Taylor Acorn delves into chronic people-pleasing, addictive chaos and the importance of self-love on her debut album as a label signee.
Taylor Acorn has been honing her craft for nearly a decade. Now signed to Fearless Records and earning her flowers as a rising voice in pop-punk, the Nashville-based creative has pieced together a record that documents the good, the bad and the ugly of loving, growing and patching up painful wounds.
Poster Child bares its teeth and sulks with an attitude like the golden days of snarling ’00s pop-rock. What Kelly Clarkson and Avril Lavigne gave in that era is what Taylor’s cooking up right now in her own way, updated with a much more modern lexicon. It’s bitter and teenage-esque, with flutters of wisdom and calm. Opener People Pleaser is a cheerleader bop for those who care so much it feels chronic. It claps along to emo guitars, and bleeds right through into Crashing Out, where Taylor explores a toxic relationship and what it feels like to be ‘addicted to the chaos’.
Uniformed and formulaic throughout, Poster Child continually uses a base of pop-punk guitars and instrumentals that take slower verses and pair them up with explosive choruses that tap into angst. However, a unique offering is Home Videos. It’s a real smack in the mouth for those who ache for the past, and its lyrics rhyme beautifully as Taylor yearns for the simple times when ‘the worst thing you could break was a window or an arm’.
Theme Park and Masquerade almost act as a double closer, with the former opening a new chapter to better times and a healthy relationship, while the latter reflects on the ways we mask to get through life’s challenges and sets a promise to heal. All while working with bread and butter pop-punk elements, Poster Child is wholly one big and lively purge of emotional bile.
Verdict: 3/5
For fans of: Avril Lavigne, LØLØ, The Maine
Poster Child is out now Fearless
